FONTANA PAINTINGS IN PARIS RETROSPECTIVE

FONTANA PAINTINGS IN PARIS RETROSPECTIVE

(ANSA) - Paris, November 4 - One of the largest retrospectives ever devoted to leading Italian abstract artist Lucio Fontana has opened its doors in Paris.

The newly opened Tornabuoni Gallery features 60 paintings by Fontana (1899-1968), 48 of which are for sale, spanning his entire career.

''This is easily the most important French exhibit on Fontana since the Pompidou show of 1987,'' commented top Fontana scholar Enrico Crispolti.

Gallery owner Michele Casamonti said the event was also a ''tribute to Paris'', which was ''a source of inspiration for Fontana''.

''This is an extraordinary exhibition,'' said Casamonti.

''The French capital featured in the writing on Fontana's canvases more frequently even than Buenos Aires, where he was born, or Milan, where he lived for many years''.

Fontana's habit of scribbling phrases on the back of his paintings, designed to make them easier to authenticate, has also given the exhibition its unusual title: ''Oggi e' il primo ottobre, parto per Parigi''.

The phrase, ''Today is October 1, I am leaving for Paris'', is an amalgamation of phrases writtem on the back of two separate paintings from 1964.

Fontana experimented with a variety of materials and forms during his career but is best known for founding the Spatialist movement and for his iconic series of slashed, monochromatic canvases.

Born to an Italian father and an Argentine mother, Fontana spent his early years in Italy, before moving to Argentina and then returning to Italy as a young man.

He published his first issue of the Manifesto Spaziale magazine in 1947, in which he developed a number of his earlier ideas, calling for art that embraced science and technology.

Transferring these ideas into practical art, he made increasing use of neon light and radio, and in the 1950s, started work on his famous slash paintings, making vertical cuts or punching holes in the surface of his canvases.

This series of paintings, part of his abstract period, are probably the pieces most familiar to the general public. They have had a lasting influence on modernist visions of art and fetch very high prices in auctions today.

The exhibition at the Tornabuoni Gallery features work from various stages of the artist's career, including several of his slashed canvases.

The show ends on December 10.